


when words aren't enough

by wrnkledtime



Series: to the end of the world [9]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, captain swan cuddles bc why not, hurt comfort, little baby bit for a prompt i got on tumblr, post Underworld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 20:57:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6487138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrnkledtime/pseuds/wrnkledtime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>even the worst of storms won't be able to weather their love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when words aren't enough

There was a time when Killian Jones was alone. He once had nowhere to go and no place to call home, but the sea. He was constantly on the run, away from all of reality, and decided that he’d never quite get the chance to leave his mark on the world.

He blinks up at the darkness of the ceiling, finding comfort from the warmth radiating from Emma’s body as she lays curled up next to them, her legs intertwined with his and the palm of her hand resting lightly against his chest. Starlight streams in like pale ripples of a river, shifting around with every billow of the light curtains.

His heart clenches as Emma presses in further into him, her lips parting as she sighs in her sleep. Returning to Storybrooke - the real Storybrooke - had been an adventure, to say the least. It was a story for the books, much to Henry’s delight, but Killian felt like he had aged another hundred years.

He recalls Emma’s gentle touches as she’d hover her fingers across his face, searching for anything that needed to be fixed as she took in the dimness of his eyes. He hasn’t been able to get much sleep - the closing of his eyes served as a portal to recalling the torture that Hades had put him through. He remembers, at one point, that Hades had disguised himself as Emma, as Henry, as David - using their voices and their mannerisms to get him to open his eyes before lashing out violently.

Killian shudders, willing for his racing heart to calm before it bursts out of his chest, and Emma shifts against him again. Her toes, soft and warm, graze the edge his shin, and he adjusts his position to turn to face her slightly. She blinks at him, her eyes squinty and bleary with sleep as she reaches out towards him.

Her fingertips brush against his jaw before sliding across his scruff to trace the outline of his lips, and he presses his lips to each of her fingertips, communicating that he’s okay as her eyes flit across his face. They continue to lay like that, mirroring each other’s positions as they study each other through the dark and the pale shine of the moonlight.

Being next to her is an indescribable comfort, Killian decides - it’s like a secret time and place for just the two of them, with their unspoken words and familiar touches when words couldn’t possibly be enough. It filled his heart - _she_ filled his heart whole and to the brim, and when the worst of his thoughts dragged him down, down, down so deep into the abyss, she was always there to reel him back in.

As if she could read his thoughts, Emma holds her palm out to him, intertwining their fingers together wordlessly after he reciprocates her action. She holds him to her, pressing her lips to his softly and surely. He nuzzles the side of his face against hers, his heart and mind leisurely falling at ease as he feels the smile stretch out across his skin as soon as she nestles herself into the crook of his neck.

Like an anchor to a ship, she twines herself around his body and holds him as his eyes drift shut. He knows, then, that even the worst of storms won’t be able to weather their love for each other, as unspoken and restless as it is - he’s a hell of a captain, after all.


End file.
